KILLING ADONIS by J M Donellan, Book Review

Killing Adonis has recently published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press Mysteries.

Killing Adonis Synopsis:

LIGHT DUTIES, LARGE PAY
NO QUESTIONS ASKED … OR ANSWERED

After seeing a curious flyer, Freya takes a job caring for Elijah, the comatose son of the eccentric Vincetti family. She soon discovers that the Vincetti’s labyrinthine mansion hides a wealth of secrets, their corporate rivals have a nasty habit of being extravagantly executed, and Elijah is not the saint they portray him to be.

As well, Marilyn Monroe keeps showing up, unaware she’s very much deceased. And there’s something very strange about the story that Elijah’s brother Jack is writing …

Killing Adonis is a tragicomic tale about love, delusion, corporate greed and the hazards of using pineapple cutters while hallucinating.

(Pantera Press)

BOOK REVIEW

When a book is described as a ‘tragicomic tale about love, delusion, corporate greed’ and has some of the best faux leather cover art I’ve seen, it’s off to a pretty good start in the eyes of this reviewer.

But there were lots of other lovely surprises for me in J M Donellan’s Killing Adonis.

Firstly, and I really don’t know how this initially slipped by me, J M Donellan is a fellow Brisbanite and this very contemporary story is set in Brisbane. The references to well known bars and everyday locations around my city (in a non-cliche way) were a real treat.

Secondly, Killing Adonis is bursting with snappy dialogue, symbolism and pop-culture and literary references – there is just so much going on. So focus and plausibility is this novel’s key weakness from a literary standpoint, but on the flipside it was the overwhelming, madcap nature of the tale that I found so entertaining.

“So, how long do you give yourself before you try to break in?…. It’s like a modern-day Pandora’s box.”

“How come in myths it’s always women who cause all the woes of the world to come hurtling into existence? Eve, Pandora, Lilith, Helen of Troy? Can’t you men take any goddamn responsibility for all the world’s crap?”

“We’ve already had our periodic breakfast-foodsat-inappropriate-times argument, do we have to get into chauvinistic-attitudes-perpetuated-through-mythculture quarrel tonight as well?”

Killing Adonis is a fun read worth checking out, and J M Donellan an author now very much on my radar.

BOOK RATING: The Story 4 / 5 ; The Writing 3.5 / 5  —  Overall 3.75

Get your copy of Killing Adonis from:

Amazon | Book Depository | B&N | Kobobooks | Indigo | Booktopia(Aus)

Genre: Mystery, Drama, Humour, Romance

This review counts towards my participation in the 2016 Aussie Author Challenge.

About the Author, J M Donellan 

J.M. Donellan is a writer, musician, slam poet, radio DJ and teacher. He was almost devoured by a tiger in the jungles of Malaysia, nearly died of a lung collapse in the Nepalese Himalayas, fended off a pack of rabid dogs with a guitar in the mountains of India and was sexually harassed by a half-naked man whilst standing next to Oscar Wilde’s grave in Paris.

His debut novel A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India was the winner of the 2009 IP Picks best fiction award and lots of magazines gave it rave reviews, which was very nice of them. He also scripted and voiced the internationally popular Pocket Hipster iPhone application, even though he doesn’t have an iPhone. Josh was a state finalist in the 2012 Australian Poetry Slam and was chosen as one of the top ten writers in the 2013 SOYA awards. His first play, ‘We Are All Ghosts’, was performed as part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival in 2014. His children’s fantasy novel Zeb and the Great Ruckus was described by one child as ‘the best book ever, but it should have had Dr Who in it.’

Check out Josh’s website or connect on Twitter.

Other reviews of Killing Adonis  

Goodreads, Tonile – NSW Writers Centre, Glam Adelaide, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly

* My receiving a copy of this book from Pantera Press for review purposes did not impact the expression of my honest opinions in the review above.